HOUSTON, July 13, 2017 (PCW)--US July propylene contracts have settled at 39 cpp for polymer grade and 37.5 cpp for chemical grade, a 0.5 cpp increase from June.

Contracts began the year at 41.5 cpp for PGP and 40 cpp for CGP, reaching a high of 52 cpp (PGP) and 50.5 cpp (CGP) in March, before dropping to a year-to-date low of 38.5 cpp for PGP and 37 cpp for CGP in May and June.

Spot PGP has traded in a range of 36.25-37 cpp so far this month. In June, spot PGP traded in a range of 37-38 cpp.

The month-to-date 30-day July weighted average for PGP was 36.852 cpp as of Wednesday, down 0.977 from June. The month-to-date 45-day June weighted average for PGP was 37.229 cpp, up 0.151 cpp from June.

On the feedstock side, spot refinery grade propylene (used to feed PGP and CGP splitters) was at 24.5 cpp on Wednesday. The 30-day weighted average for Mont Belvieu pipeline delivery so far is 25 cpp, up 0.821 cpp from June. Spot propane (used to feed PDH units), was averaging around 61 cpp so far this month (or the equivalent of 14.42 cpp), compared to 60 cpg (14.18 cpp) in June.

There was no fresh operational news. Dow’s 1.65 billion lbs/yr PDH is still down for a planned turnaround. Flint Hills’ 1.45 billion lbs/yr PDH unit in Houston remained in restart mode. --
Samantha Hartke